Birding Tanoumah

Whilst birding the Tanoumah area in the western mountains we saw a good number of Grey-headed Kingfisher. There had been plenty of rain so the birds were making the most of the new wet areas formed. A single Short-toed Snake Eagle was seen flying over and four Arabain Magpie were seen feeding and calling to each other. Several White-throated Robin were on passage and small groups of Arabian Babbler were seen. A few different pairs of Streaked Scrub Warbler were located as were small numbers of Yemen Thrush, Dusky Turtle Dove, dark phase Long-legged Buzzard, Palestine Sunbird and Yemen Serin. 

Short-toed Snake Eagle

Long-billed Pipit

Yemen Serin

Yemen Serin

 

Summer time birding - Tanoumah

Last summer I visited Tanoumah, and have just sorted out my photos from the trip. Below are a few species I managed to see and photograph including Abyssinian White-eye, Brown-necked Raven, Common Kestrel, Crested Lark, Little Rock Thrush, Tristrams Starling and Violet-backed Starling. I also saw a few Arabian endemics including Arabian Serin, Arabian Wheatear, Yemen Serin and Yemen Warbler.

Abyssinian White-eye

Arabian Serin

Arabian Wheatear

Brown-necked Raven

Brown-necked Raven

Common Kestrel

Crested Lark

Little Rock Thrush

Tristram's Starling

Violet-backed Starling

Yemen Serin 

Yemen Warbler

Yemen Serin

Yemen Serin Serinus menachensis is a scarce species of the south-west highlands with records from Jebal Soudah near Abha and nearby Raydah Esacarpment where birds are occasionally seen at Raydah farm. Good numbers have been seen at Tanoumah where flocks of over 50 have been recorded recently. Birds have also been seen further north at Wadi Thee Gazelle. They have occasionally been seen at lower elevations around Jebal Gaha in the Tihama. This is another endemic that is a little difficult to find but should be found on a trip to the southwest if time is spent looking at rocky slopes in the mountains.

Ten species of Arabian Endemic at Al Mehfar Park – Tanoumah

During the weekend of 19-20 July, Phil Roberts and I went to the southwest of Saudi Arabia for a birding trip. This was a very busy and long weekend with little sleep as we were birding on foot all day and then looking for owls and nightjars all night. We birded the Al Mehfar Park area for most of the day on 20 June and saw plenty of good birds including ten of the thirteen Arabian Endemics that occur in Saudi Arabia including: Philby’s Partridge, Arabian Partridge, Arabian Scops Owl, Arabian Woodpecker, Yemen Warbler, Yemen Thrush, Arabian Wheatear, Yemen Serin, Arabian Serin & Yemen Linnet. The ones we failed to see were: Arabian Waxbill, Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak and Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl. As it started getting light we went to the more bare area of the site with large boulders in the hope of seeing Philby’s Partridge where we located several small groups totaling 16 birds. Other birds seen included; Five Arabian Scops Owls, four Eurasian Hoopoes, five Arabian Woodpeckers, three Fan Tailed Ravens, six Violet-backed Starlings, 15 Tristram's Starlings, five Yemen Thrushs, 10 White-spectacled Bulbul, Crested Lark, two Barn Swallows, two Pale Crag Martins, six Red-rumped Swallow, four Brown Woodland Warblers, six Streaked Scrub Warblers, African Paradise Flycatcher, Arabian Warbler, three Abyssinian White-eyes, four Arabian Wheatears, four Little Rock Thrushes, seven Gambaga Flycatchers, five Palestine Sunbirds, House Sparrow, Long-billed Pipit, three Arabian Serins 35 Yemen Serins, 30 Yemen Linnets and two Cinammon-breasted Buntings.

Arabian Wheatear - male

Arabian Woodpecker - male

Arabian Woodpecker - male

Little Rock Thrush

Palestine Sunbird

Philby's Partridge

Streaked Scrub Warbler

Violet-backed Starling 

Violet-backed Starling

Yemen Linnet

Yemen Serin 

Yemen Serin

Finally the bird – Taif Euphorbia Forest

As mentioned in a previous post, Phil Roberts and I went to the Taif area in the mountains in western Saudi Arabia to look for Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak. This was the last regional endemic species for us both o see in the country and as it had been seen in the area a few times in the last couple of years including in November 2014 we thought we would have a look. We were unsuccessful at the location where they had been seen most recently possibly due to the inclement weather of strong winds and low cloud cover and also failed to see them at Wadi Thee Ghazal where a bird had been photographed by a camera trap set for Arabian Leopard in 2012. Lou Regenmorter had mentioned to me that he had found a Euphorbia Forest near to Taif with mature Euphorbia’s so we went to look here. We found the site that had a hillside with many mature Euphorbia’s, a tree especially liked by Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak. The trouble was the trees were growing up a steep hillside and this meant we had to climb up the hillside to get good views of a wider range of the trees. A look from the raod could not locate any birds so we moved up the hill when Phil saw a bird near the ground below a Euphorbia. I then saw a second bird nearby but the distance was too far for photography and soon the birds flew off. The species in unmistakable and the golden patches in the wing very clear, but the views were brief and distant. Despite a long search of the area we could not relocate the birds meaning we have already set up another trip to the area to look again in the summer of 2015. One good point is this is a new location for the species so it looks like they cover a wide area around Taif, although are scarce and difficult to see. We worked very hard in the field from dawn to dusk with only a brief view of the birds as a reward but at least we did finally see the species in the Kingdom. Birds in nearby Oman appear relatively easy to photograph when seen and Lou got a few photos of the ones he saw in Saudi Arabia last year so we are hoping on the next trip we will have better weather and are able to get a few photos. We also saw a few other good birds including the regional endemic Yemen Serin and Yemen Linnet.

Tristram's Starling

Tristram's Starling

Desert Lark

Yemen Serin

African Paradise Flycatchers - Raydah Escarpment

On the way back to the airport in Abha from Tanoumah area we stopped at the Raydah Escarpment for a few hours. The ranger station gate was open so we go into the reserve easily and drove down to the disused farm. The farm now has a new locked gate blocking access for vehicles along the small track but as we always walked there was no issue as it was easy to get around the outside of the gate. As we were at the location around midday it was relatively quiet but we still saw some good birds including two Arabian Waxbills. This was only the second time we had seen the species with the first in the reed beds at Malaki Dam near Jizan in April 2014. These two birds were perched in the low scrub of a large tree, very different habitat from the previous sighting. Two African Paradise Flycatchers were also seen here including a fantastic male with extra long tail streamers. Little Rock Thrush, Yemen Thrush, Yemen Linnet and Abyssinian White-eye were also common here. With a few Fan-tailed Ravens flying over.

African Paradise Flycatcher - female

African Paradise Flycatcher - male

Yemen Linnet

We then slowly made our way down the incredibly steep road to the small village at the bottom where the first bird I saw when getting out of the car was a Grey-headed Kingfisher. An African Grey Hornbill was sitting quietly in a large tree and a couple of Bruce’s Green Pigeons flew over. Violet-backed Starlings and Gambaga Flycatchers were also seen. Arabian Partridge could be heard calling from the steep cliffs but remained unseen. This was our tenth out of twelve Saudi Arabia Arabian endemics in a two day trip – a good result for two full days birding with virtually no sleep due to looking for owls and nightjars in the dark.  After Raydah we had a hour left so went to the top of Mount Soudah where there were plenty of Fan-tailed Ravens  as always and two Yemen Serins on the rocks at the top.

Gambaga Flycatcher

Violet-backed Starlings

Yemen Serin

Plenty of Arabian Endemics at Al Mehfar Park – Tanoumah

During the weekend of 11-12 July, Phil Roberts and I went to the southwest of Saudi Arabia for a birding trip. This was a very busy and long weekend with little sleep as we were birding on foot all day and then looking for owls and nightjars all night. We birded the Al Mehfar Park area and I have already posted details of some of the bird we saw but we had a brilliant time at this new site. We spent the entire day there on the first day and most of the morning the second day and saw plenty of good birds including eight of the twelve Arabian Endemics that occur in Saudi Arabia including: Philby’s Partridge Alectoris philbyi, Arabian Scops Owl Otus pamelae, Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos dorae, Yemen Warbler Sylvia buryi, Yemen Thrush Turdus menachensis, Arabian Wheatear Oenanthe lugentoides, Yemen Serin Serinus menachensis & Yemen Linnet Carduelis yemenensis. The ones we failed to see were: Arabian Partridge Alectoris melanocephala, Arabian Waxbill Estrilda rubibarba, Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak Rhynchostruthus percivali & Arabian Serin Serinus rothschildi. We arrived at about 03:00 hrs and immediately started looking for Owls without success although located two Montane Nightjars on the road and in flight. As it started getting light we went to the more bare area of the site with large boulders in the hope of seeing Philby’s Partridge an Arabian endemic Phil had not previously see. We heard birds calling briefly but despite extensive searching failed to locate any. We did, however, see four Arabian Magpie Pica pica asirensis an endemic subspecies of Eurasian Magpie sometimes treated as a separate species and with population in danger of extinction with probably less than 500 birds left? Soon after this we found Yemen Warbler in the trees along with a drumming male Arabian Woodpecker, a species we would see three more of during our birding here. The most common species seen were Yemen Serin, a species we had previously not seen before, and Palestine Sunbird with over 100 of each seen. Gambaga Flycatcher was also common as was Yemen Linnet. A few Arabian Wheatears were located along the road along with Red-breasted Wheatears and Long-billed Pipits were also seen in this area in good numbers. Other interesting species seen included Violet-backed Starlings, Abyssinian White-eyes, Common Kestrel, Fan-tailed Ravens and a Barbary Falcon, another new species for me in Saudi Arabia. Two Dusky Turtle Doves were in the wooded areas but little else was seen here. In the late afternoon we returned to look for Philby’s Partridge and saw three birds on the cliff edge. We then located and photographed Arabian Scops Owl in the nighttime (see previous post) and the next morning we returned and saw four more Philby’s Partridges a little further along the cliff top although they remained at distance. All in all we had a great time here and I will certainly be returning to this area again, as it the best birding site in the area that I know off.

Arabian Magpie

Philby's Partridge

Yemen Warbler

Yemen Serin

Yemen Linnet - male

Palestinian Sunbird

Palestinian Sunbird

Violet-backed Starling

Common Kestrel

Abyssinian White-eye

Gambaga Flycatcher

Long-billed Pipit